Monday, December 13, 2010

Madison Swift Station to Open Dec. 21

The first of the four new Swiftstations in Everett is set to open next week, on Tuesday, Dec. 21. The Madison Street Station will serve northbound riders on Evergreen Way at Madison, adjacent to an Albertson’s supermarket.

These four new stations were in the original plan for Swift, but were deferred due to funding. Everett Transit, which is responsible for funding Swift stations in Everett, was able to secure a grant from the state Regional Mobility program to build the four stations this year.

These stations will have the same amenities as the other Swift stations, including ORCA card readers, ticket vending machines and a curb bumper right from the start! Those bumpers help protect the buses and the curb.

The Madison Street station and its southbound counterpart at Pecks Drive will fill in the largest gap on the Swift route. Buses now travel 2 miles between the Casino Road and 50th Street stations.

The northbound Madison Street and southbound Pecks Drive stations are a split pair, nearly a quarter mile apart. This is due to the fact that a utility banks exists on the far-side Madison Street corner southbound; the near-side corner has a driveway that presents the only streetside entrance to a bank. Everett Transit Routes 7 and 9 serve the distance between, or you can walk by one of the last Der Weinerschnitzel’s in the area!

The Pecks Drive station will be the last of the new stations to open, as it was the last to get underway. Construction was held off until after Halloween to accommodate the adjacent Value Village store. That station, and the two stations at Evergreen and 112th Street should open in early 2011.

3 comments:

If only the Madison station opens without the matching counterpart of Pecks Drive station opening simultaneously, would not that cause potential problems for passengers?

Would not riders be misled if they get on the northbound Madison Swift bus stop and upon returning southbound on Swift are not verbally told by the bus driver each individual time the Swift Bus stops at 50th that the next stop is Casino road?

There could be some unhappy campers when they find out since they did not get off at 50th, they must now get off at Casino road. Unless they planned ahead of time or used the trip planner to take the Everett Transit bus the remainder of the way southbound to Madison or take Swift all the way past 50th to Casino road and then cross the street to take Swift back north to the Madison bus stop. It just seems like there could be plenty of confusion (and disappointed riders) without the matching southbound stop at Pecks Drive opening in sync with the northbound stop at Madison.

The assumption by the last commenter is that the only purpose of the Madison station is to go north and south. Many of us use Madison – as well as the newly-opened 112th St. station – as a transfer point to the #8, which takes us the rest of the way to Boeing, Intermec, Fluke, etc. With the opening of Madison – and now 112th – we no longer have to get off at 4th Ave. N., then cross 7 lanes of Evergreen and negotiate a couple blocks of narrow sidewalk to get to the first Everett Transit station. Or, alternatively, walk further to get to the last stop on Evergreen the #8 has (at 100th). Going back the other way, we’ve had 4th since Swift opened, and it’s side-by-side to the Everett Transit station for going south, across the street for going north (although one’s backtracking for the latter). The time without the Pecks Drive station is supposed to be short, I’ve been told it will open “any time now,” probably this month. Now if we can get Everett Transit to change their #8 routing back to where it was before Swift, where it would be servicing the new Pecks Drive station, then those traveling from points west would have a two-way commute that includes Pecks Drive, a boon for folks whose trip includes points north, far better than using the 4th Avenue station.

Station update: While Madison Street opened in December and the 112th northbound station opened Jan. 4, the final two new stations are due to open Jan. 25. That will be Pecks Drive and 112th southbound. All in all, a month from the first to last station openings. Enjoy!

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